Previously I mentioned the joy I feel when meandering down back streets, alleyways and less traveled paths with my camera in hand.

This could be right in my own neighbourhood, or in a foreign setting. It really gets my heart racing when I stumble upon something that to most people is “nothing” or worse...”garbage”.

It's as much a gut feeling as an artistic sense that brings me to an abrupt halt in front of something I think has aesthetic merit.

As I said before”Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, and I think that no truer words could be said when “found art” presents itself.

I have heard that humans seem to generally walk about looking straight ahead or down; not up.
I guess since the disappearance of gigantic, airborne, dinosaurs the lack of a threat from above has made us tend not to look up as much.

Well, I just look everywhere when I go for walks, so I guess that makes me a bit strange. In doing so, I see wonderful subjects in all directions.

What makes a good subject? For me it's many things. It could be as simple as an interesting texture, or it could be colour appearing where it's unexpected.

 

The juxtaposition of colour, texture, form, and contrast set my imagination to work I'm afraid.Light is the magical ingredient that makes everything else work

These are the same considerations I give to painting a subject.
As with drawing or painting, the composition is all important when taking pictures...even casual ones as I am talking about now.

First you spot something that your brain identifies as potentially
exciting or unusual. Then you look through the camera's viewfinder and give it a look.

Now this is really exciting because when you do this you are framing the subject and removing it from it's surroundings.

You zoom in, move to the right or left a tiny bit, and all of a sudden this “thing” takes on a far greater importance and a life all it's own as an artistic creation.

When I take photos of these pieces of “found art” I have little or no intention of recreating them as paintings.

They are what they are in photo form. In the past I have actually enlarged a few of
these images and had them printed on canvas.

When you change the scale of something
dramatically you draw more attention to it, and even a small object becomes something monumental.

I would love to enlarge a 4x6 inch photo to 4x6 feet and see the impact it would have.

One thing you can be sure of is, you couldn't walk past and not notice it. It would lure you up to it like a magnet!

The next time you go for a walk with your camera, look all around and you will be amazed at the wonderful subjects you encounter, regardless of where you are.

Let your artistic brain enjoy itself and be stimulated by all that you see.

Sometimes the most wondrous things are right under your nose...if you take time to look.

It's always exciting I think!
 

© Blair T. Paul, all rights reserved
Edited and produced by: C. MacFarlane Photography